Kerala bypoll turns into a high-stakes battle for BJP
Buoyed by its recent success in Tripura, the Bharatiya Janata Party has turned its focus on the upcoming by-election for Chengannur assembly constituency to launch its ‘mission Kerala’, while the ruling CPI(M) is putting all its might to prevent a saffron surge in the state, the last Left bastion.
The Congress, which of late ceded some opposition space to the BJP in the southern state, too is pulling out all the stops to regain the seat it lost in the 2016 state elections, giving an unprecedented political importance to the otherwise innocuous bypoll.
No by-election in the recent past has generated as much political interest with all three parties declaring their respective candidates even before the poll date has been announced.
The BJP is viewing it as an opportunity to announce its arrival in the state. Its leaders are claiming that Chengannur will be the launching pad for the party in the southern state.
For the CPI(M), it will be more than a referendum on its government. Its leaders privately admit that a win for BJP could change the contour of the state politics.
The death of sitting MLA KK Ramachandran Nair two months ago necessitated the bypoll, likely to be held in May.
The constituency had witnessed a fierce three-cornered contest in 2016 in which the CPI(M) candidate had won with a margin of over 7,000 votes.
This time, the Left party has fielded Alappuzha district secretary Saji Cherian to take on BJP’s P S Sreedharan Pillai and Congress’ SD Vijayakumar.
“For us, Chengannur is the launching pad for the state. Situation is quite favourable for the party after our resounding victory in Tripura,” said Pillai, the BJP candidate.
CPI (M)’s Cherian said: “The RSS-BJP combine can’t enact Tripura in Kerala. It is a different ball game altogether.”
The CPI(M) said the BJP is not even a contender as their contest will be with the Congress. The Congress leaders, too, say the fight will be with the CPI(M).
“We are not worried about the three-cornered fight. We will expose the Centre and state government’s anti-people policies. We have a definite edge,” said state Congress chief MM Hassan.
The constituency has 20% Christian voters.
In 140-member Kerala assembly, the BJP has one member, O Rajagoplan, the former Union minister of state for railways.
But the victory in Left-ruled Tripura, where the BJP could not win a single seat in 2013 elections, charged up its rank and file. There are even talks that BJP president Amit Shah will campaign in Chengannur.
The party has also recently introduced many centrallysponsored schemes in the constituency. Last week, a passport service centre was opened.
CHENGANNUR (ALAPUZHA): WHILE CONGRESS WILL LOOK TO REGAIN THE CHENGANNUR SEAT IT LOST IN 2016, FOR CPI(M) IT WOULD MORE BE A REFERENDUM ON ITS GOVERNMENT IN KERALA